Opportunities for Students

The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School welcomes students from across the Boston area who are interested in negotiation, mediation, and conflict management. Advancing issues of negotiation is central to our mission of helping individuals become more effective leaders. That’s why we offer students access to expert insights, internship opportunities, funding for research, and more.

Sign up to receive our Student Interest Group email for details on upcoming events, funding, internship, and employment opportunities.

EXPLORE OUR STUDENT RESOURCES
INSIGHTS FROM WORLD-RENOWNED EXPERTS

We host various events throughout the year, including conversations with world leaders, film series, book discussions, and seminars on current negotiation and mediation tactics employed around the globe. For details about upcoming events, click here.

SPRING 2023 Grant Programs Application Deadlines
PON Graduate Student Grant – due April 12, 2023
PON Next Generation Grant – due May 10, 2023

FUNDING FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH

PON provides fellowship and grant opportunities to help qualified individuals pursue academic research and projects in the field of negotiation.

Graduate Research Fellowships
Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Each fellow receives a $35,000 stipend for one year of dissertation research and writing in negotiation and related topics in alternative dispute resolution. The fellowship also provides full access to PON facilities and Harvard libraries. To learn more, click here.

Summer Fellowships
Summer fellowship grants focus on the connection between scholarship and practice in negotiation and dispute resolution by supporting students interested in exploring career paths, either professional or academic. Summer fellowships provide students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University, and other Boston-area schools with up to $3,500 for internships or summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, nonprofit, or academic organizations. To apply, click here.

Next Generation Grants
Next Generation Grants support research in negotiation and conflict resolution by nontenured faculty and doctoral students. Faculty and students from any school or department within PON’s interuniversity consortium (Harvard, MIT, Tufts) may apply. Postdoctoral students with formal affiliations to Harvard or one of our consortium schools are also welcome to apply. Doctoral student grants are limited to $5,000; nontenured, tenure-track faculty grants are limited to $10,000. To learn more, click here.

Graduate Student Grants
Our Student Grants program supports cutting-edge research projects in the field of negotiation and conflict resolution at the graduate level. Grants are awarded for specific research projects in amounts of up to $1,000. Students from any Boston-area school may apply. To learn more, click here.

COURSES

PON Seminars
PON runs two semester-length courses designed to increase public awareness and understanding of successful conflict resolution. Programs provide participants with a conceptual framework and practical advice for professional and personal development in dispute resolution.

These courses are open to the public and draw participants from a wide range of disciplines, professional fields, and life experiences.

Harvard Law School Negotiation and Mediation Programs
Harvard Law School offers a number of negotiation and mediation opportunities in addition to the offerings at PON:

International Business Arbitration

PON Staff   •  10/01/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

International Business Arbitration
BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL (JD980)

FALL 2012
Instructor:
William W. Park
617-353-3149

Legal dimensions of international business dispute resolution through binding arbitration. Treaty framework for determining validity of arbitration agreement and for recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards (New York Convention, Panama Convention, Washington Convention). Comparative approach (French, English, Swiss, and U.S. legal systems) to the influence of … Read International Business Arbitration 

Alternative Dispute Resolution Seminar

PON Staff   •  09/30/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Alternative Dispute Resolution Seminar
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

SPRING 2013

Instructor:
Bette J. Roth
Suffolk Law School

This seminar examines the role of lawyers as societal problem solvers employing various methods of analyzing, reducing and resolving legal and other forms of dispute without resort to formal trial. Although some disputes can only be properly resolved through trial and appeal, the vast … Read Alternative Dispute Resolution Seminar 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

PON Staff   •  09/30/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Alternative Dispute Resolution
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

FALL 2012/SPRING 2013

Instructor:
Dwight Golann
Fall 2012
Suffolk Law School
617-573-8183

Robert Smith
Spring 2013
Suffolk Law School
617-573-8573

One of a lawyer’s primary tasks is to resolve disputes. Most controversies are never decided by a court, but instead are settled by agreement. The ability to negotiate and mediate effectively is thus crucial for litigators as well as lawyers … Read Alternative Dispute Resolution 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

PON Staff   •  09/30/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Alternative Dispute Resolution
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

FALL 2013
Instructor:
Sarah Garraty
617-353-2395

Law school courses focus almost exclusively on adjudication as a model for resolving legal disputes, yet only a fraction of disputes actually go to trial. This course exposes students to the many alternatives to trial, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, fact-finding, and hybrid combinations of these methods. After … Read Alternative Dispute Resolution 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

PON Staff   •  09/25/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Alternative Dispute Resolution
NEW ENGLAND SCHOOL OF LAW (AR252)

FALL 2013
Instructor:
Davalene Cooper
Martha Koster
617-422-7271

Designed to familiarize students with alternatives to traditional means of settling disputes. The course begins with the traditional method of dispute resolution, litigation, and later concentrates on negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. The course also exposes students to various programs in Massachusetts that use alternative … Read Alternative Dispute Resolution 

Dispute Systems Design: Seminar

PON Staff   •  09/25/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Dispute Systems Design
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

SPRING 2013

Instructor:
Mr. Rory Van Loo

Lawyers are often called upon to help design systems for managing and/or resolving conflicts that support or supplant existing legal structures. Implicitly or explicitly, every institution and organization has a system for managing disputes. In some cases, the system may be formal, with administrative hearings, courts, tribunals, … Read Dispute Systems Design: Seminar 

Conflict Analysis and Intervention

PON Staff   •  09/25/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Conflict Analysis and Intervention (LGLS 130A1)
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY PEACE, CONFLICT, AND COEXISTENCE STUDIES PROGRAM

FALL 2014

Tuesday and Thursday 6:30-7:50 pm

Instructor:
Professor Douglas Smith

Examines alternatives to litigation, including negotiation and mediation. Through simulations and court observations, students assess their own attitudes about and skills in conflict resolution. Analyzes underlying theories in criminal justice system, divorce, adoption, and international arena. … Read Conflict Analysis and Intervention 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

PON Staff   •  09/25/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Alternative Dispute Resolution JD 881 (A1)

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

FALL 2014
Monday and Wednesday 11:00am-12:25pm
Professor Reich

Spring 2015
Tuesday and Thursday 2:30-4:00pm
Professor Bamford

One of a lawyer’s primary tasks is to resolve disputes. Most controversies are never decided by a court but instead are settled by agreement. The ability to negotiate and mediate effectively is therefore crucial for litigators … Read Alternative Dispute Resolution 

Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution

PON Staff   •  09/25/2009   •  Filed in DRD Tag Pages

Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (JD 955 A1)

NOT OFFERED

Instructor:
Barry Weiner
617-353-3110

This seminar series will offer students the opportunity to actually mediate and arbitrate a specific case through 2 party role playing with Mr. Weiner as Judge, Mediator and Arbitrator. During the course, both sides will consider the advisability of mediation and its timing, … Read Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution 

Harvard Negotiation Law Review Launches New Website

PON Staff   •  09/20/2009   •  Filed in Daily, News, Opportunities for Students, Reviews of Books

The Harvard Negotiation Law Review has just launched a new website!  HNLR.org features a host of articles on Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, and other dispute resolution topics, as well as archives of print editions of the journal and other ADR content.  We are always looking for cutting edge material in the field … Learn More About This Program 

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